Negotiation

When running a business well, a key element to smooth operations is negotiating well. I once interned at a pretty big ad agency that philosophically didn’t believe in negotiating. Their belief was that you should propose your best offer initially so the buyer gets a simple yes-or-no choice, saving both parties time and frustration. The idea was that this approach would be substantially more efficient.

I don’t disagree with that approach, but I think it’s quite easy to lack awareness of essential details. Given that, I’m a big proponent of checklists, in order to help ensure both parties are talking about the same thing.